4.  The applicant was born in 1974 and lives in Kórnik.
5.  On 20 June 2000 the applicant was arrested on suspicion of several offences of mugging and extortion committed as part of an organised criminal group.
6.  On 22 June 2000 the Choszczno District Court remanded him in custody, relying on the reasonable suspicion that he had committed the offences in question. It also considered that keeping the applicant in detention was necessary to ensure the proper conduct of the proceedings, given the risk that he might tamper with evidence or induce witnesses to give false testimony, particularly in view of the fact that another suspect had not yet been arrested. The court also stressed the severity of the likely sentence and the serious nature of the charges.
7.  Several other members of the same criminal group were subsequently detained and charged in connection with the investigation against the applicant.
8.  The applicant’s appeal against the detention order, like his further appeals against the decisions extending his detention and all his subsequent, numerous applications for release and appeals against refusals to release him, was unsuccessful. In his applications and appeals he relied, inter alia, on his personal circumstances, in particular the need to secure care for his elderly parents. He also argued that his confessions to offences of which he was suspected had not been taken into consideration.
9.  Between 20 July 2000 and 5 August 2000 the applicant served a prison sentence which had been imposed on him in other criminal proceedings.
10.  In the course of the investigation, the applicant’s detention was extended on several occasions, namely on 19 September 2000 (to 20 December 2000), 19 December 2000 (to 20 March 2001), 16 March 2001 (to 20 June 2001), 19 June 2001 (to 31 December 2001), 28 December 2001 (to 31 May 2002) and 29 May 2002 (to 18 July 2002). In all their detention decisions the authorities relied on a strong suspicion, supported by evidence from witnesses and his own testimony, that the applicant had committed the offences in question. They attached importance to the grave nature of those offences and the likelihood of a severe sentence of imprisonment being imposed on the applicant. They further considered that the need to ensure the proper conduct of the investigation, especially the need to obtain fresh evidence from experts and witnesses, justified holding him in custody.
11.  On 28 June 2002 the Gdańsk Regional Prosecutor lodged a bill of indictment with the Gdańsk Regional Court. The applicant was charged with robbery, deprivation of liberty, burglary and possession of firearms and ammunition without a licence. There were 39 defendants in the case, all charged with numerous offences committed in an organised criminal group.
12.  On 4 April 2003 the trial court held the first hearing. It subsequently held several hearings in the case.
13.  During the court proceedings the Poznań Court of Appeal further extended the applicant’s detention pending trial on several occasions, namely on 11 July 2002 (to 18 January 2003), 16 January 2003 (to 18 April 2003), 10 April 2003 (to 18 October 2003) and 25 September 2003 (to 18 April 2004). The court, extending the applicant’s detention beyond the two-year period laid down in Article 263 § 3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, reiterated the grounds previously given for the applicant’s detention. Relying on Article 263 § 4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure it also underlined the complexity of the case owing to the number of defendants and volume of evidence to be obtained from many sources, coupled with the fact that in the course of the investigation new suspects had been identified.
14.  On 20 January 2004 the applicant was released from pre-trial detention.
15.  On 13 August 2004 the Gorzów Wielkopolski Regional Court gave judgment. The applicant was convicted as charged and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.
16.  The applicant appealed.
17.  On 16 November 2005 the Poznań Court of Appeal upheld the first‑instance judgment.
18.  The applicant lodged a cassation appeal (kasacja) with the Supreme Court. The proceedings are still pending.
19.  On 21 July 2003 the applicant lodged a constitutional complaint with the Constitutional Court contesting all the prerequisites of Article 263 § 4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure on the strength of which the Poznań Court of Appeal had given a decision extending his pre-trial detention beyond the two-year period. He claimed that the provision contravened the right to liberty guaranteed by the Polish Constitution.
20.  On 24 July 2006 the Constitutional Court, considering the joint constitutional complaint of two complainants including the applicant, gave a judgment (no. SK 58/03). It found one aspect of Article 263 § 4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure unconstitutional in so far as it allowed the Courts of Appeal to extend pre-trial detention beyond the period of two years “if deemed necessary in connection with other important obstacles (in the pre-trial proceedings) which could not be overcome.” The Constitutional Court reasoned that “the overruled provisions restricted the enjoyment of constitutional rights and freedoms in such an imprecise and arbitrary manner that they violated the core of constitutionally guaranteed freedoms”. Referring to other grounds of extraordinary extensions of pre-trial detention under Article 263 § 4, namely suspension of criminal proceedings, prolonged psychiatric observation of the accused, prolonged preparation of an expert opinion, evidence gathering in a particularly complex case or a foreign country, and intentional protraction of proceedings by the accused, the Constitutional Court stated that although these criteria were to some extent vague as well, their constitutionality could be secured through their precise definition which was formulated through practice and had to make reference inter alia to the well-established case-law of the European Court as regards violations of Article 5 § 3 of the Convention. By virtue of the Constitutional Court’s decision, Article 263 § 4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to the extent it had been found to be unconstitutional would cease to have effect six months after publication of the said judgment in the Polish Journal of Law.